Also...make sure to come to the next Throwdown and introduce yourself. We have a local group that gets together every few months and we'd love for more people to join.

I recall there being a weapons class, but it was further into the night... and frankly, I got a life, a wife, and work. The beginner/intermediate class is earlier in the day, the intermediate/advanced was after that, then the Gendai Kobudo weapons class was after that.

However, I never saw it, never took it, and thus decided not to comment on it. It is listed on the webiste site, but I never asked the proprietor of the school about it.

Gendai Kobudo Classes (Modern Weapons & Improvised Weapons: Gun, Baton, Umbrella, Rolled Up Magazine, Knife, etc.) (Mon & Fri 11:00am-12:00noon; Tues & Thu 9:00-10:00pm):Gendai Kobu Jitsu (Modern Weapons Art) is an art designed much like the weapons arts of historical Okinawa in that we teach students how to utilize modern weapons and everyday tools in our lives as defensive extensions of our own hands. Most tools used for practical self-defense purposes is to enable the potential victim of a immediate threat to their person or life to inflict some type of reflex response or trauma to the attacker sufficient enough to stop the threat posed.

Why does any school founded by an American, borrow heavily from the Japanese system?

I am at a Judo and Neko-Ryu Goshin Jitsu school. Neko-Ryu uses a similar ranking system (in fact, it uses the exact Adult USJA belt system) and an Asian sounding name. Why is it not called the Cates School of Self-Defense?

I've read on this forum about some MT styles using colored arm bands (sounds pretty silly to me) to denote rank in the same manner that Judo does.

Judo denotes rank with arm bands?.. and what MT 'styles' are you refering to.. muay boran styles?.. lopburi, chaiya etc?
In Thailand there is no rank but your record and i personally think ranking students beyond.. beginner, intermidiate advanced will mcdojofy MT

Even the would-be (or is it wanna be?) king of RBSD, Sammy Franco, still uses the colored ranking system (not with belts but with t-shirts!) borrowed from Judo (and then Kenpo, I believe...)

Does he refer to them as 1st kyu.. dan etc?

even with an American sounding art name that is as far removed from an Asian art as you can get.

Ya.. i think thats pretty stupid

Danzan-Ryu Jujutsu was founded in Hawaii, not Japan. Should it have a Hawaiian name? Or a Japanese name or what?

Founded by a Japanese

What about Small Circle Jujutsu? Should it be renamed Small Circle Soft Art/ Art of Softness? Ditto with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Who claims that Japanese names are off limits?

On a tangent thought... If there was an unarmed fighting academy, in your local area, that trained in a half-way decent striking and grappling system/style called, "Whoop Ass or Beat Down" would it make it more or less attractive to students? Or do Asian names attract a certain crowd to the martial arts (maybe this is what attracts LARPers to "Ninjutsu/Shinobijutsu")?

I really don't have any of these answers, but they are questions swirling in my mind.

I guess if your "new art" is based on Asian styles, giving it an Asian name is more of an homage to your roots than creating a fraudulent Asian-sounding style. Once again, I look to Neko-Ryu Goshin Jitsu for this explanation.

When I see Small circle JJ.. or Brazillian JJ i don't think japanese style i think brazilian interpretation of JJ etc.. When i see long japanese names and the term hombu and soke used i see someone trying to attract larpers and instill their art with a history that it doesn't have. It is false advertising. There can be no good reason for a non japanese art with non japanese founders with non japanese instructors not in japan to use japanese and a term like hombu rather than say headquarters.. the public doesn't know what the **** hombu means there is no good reason to use it other than attaching oneself to something that you aren't really apart of.

I mean **** Judo guys don't even call themselves Soke.. but this guy creating Cat style self defense (did he learn neko in his first japanese lesson?)
Calls himself soke even though he has no koryu tradition that would make it relevant.. he is not japanese and the art is based on judo where they don't have sokes.. BECAUSE ITS NOT A FUCKING KORYU.

Hey but i guess you have to call yourself a soke if you wanna be in the soke club and voted soke of the year and go to the soke meet and greet which oddly is all a bunch of 10th dan fat americans with made up ... um i mean their own highly effective arts

These guys ADVERTISE themselves as part of World Head of Family Sokeship Council.. which is a fraudulant rank trading bullshit organization. So what then should i think of them?

Who claims that Japanese names are off limits?

Logic, truth in advertising, linguistics, tradition, cultural context etc etc suggest they should be off limits for things that are not Japanese.

Some history... Apparently it was co-founded by Prof. Cates (who holds Hachidan rank Judo) with his Judo instructors: Nakabiyashi Sensei (combative measures instructor at the Japanese Naval Academy) and Kotani Sensei (Kodokan rank of Judan) in 1962.

Some history... Apparently it was co-founded by Prof. Cates (who holds Hachidan rank Judo) with his Judo instructors: Nakabiyashi Sensei (combative measures instructor at the Japanese Naval Academy) and Kotani Sensei (Kodokan rank of Judan) in 1962.

Versus this guy, who is apparently an American male who founded his own martial art (aka a recombination of other arts with a varied approach, maybe?) who decided to give a Japanese name.

Thats not what that history says.. i suggest you read it closer... How did the american STUDENT end up being soke of this Judo based ma (non koryu so no sokes involved) rather than the supposed co founders namely a judan in kodokan judo?.. thats sounds rather odd.. was the very old judan the first soke? Is there a record of this anywhere? Not to mention he was not a Judan in 1962 assuming you are speaking of Kotani Sumiyuki the only Kodokan judan by that name.
Please show me where Kotani takes credit for founding this system anywhere.

Soke Doug Cobb is not a man who minces words. He is highly vocal on the inefficiency of Traditional Martial Arts and wishes to see that replaced with effective combative principles versus perfection of pointless, complex or fine motor skill techniques that would never be used in an encounter where your skills would be utilized

It never fails to amuse me when I read statements as above.

"Soke"... I challenge Mr. Cobb to explain exactly what he thinks a Soke is, and why he feels it appropriate to use the term within a gendai pseudo-Japanese sounding MA

Gendai Kobudo Classes (Modern Weapons & Improvised Weapons: Gun, Baton, Umbrella, Rolled Up Magazine, Knife, etc.) (Mon & Fri 11:00am-12:00noon; Tues & Thu 9:00-10:00pm): Gendai Kobu Jitsu (Modern Weapons Art) is an art designed much like the weapons arts of historical Okinawa in that we teach students how to utilize modern weapons and everyday tools in our lives as defensive extensions of our own hands. Most tools used for practical self-defense purposes is to enable the potential victim of a immediate threat to their person or life to inflict some type of reflex response or trauma to the attacker sufficient enough to stop the threat posed.

Kobudo - means "OLD BUDO" ie KORYU (old school) - pre Meiji Restoration. Using the terms Gendai and Kobudo to reference a name of a system is absolutely ridiculous and illustrates a basic lack of understanding for what those words ACTUALLY mean in a literal and contextual sense.

I have trained with Soke Cobb, He is one of the best instructors I have seen. (A 9) I do how ever wish he had more resources and a better schedule. with the right direction he could be nationally ranked up with the top dogs in the RBSP world.